Bathroom Wetwall panel disasters

Wetwall disaster 1 (1) Wetwall disaster 2

We would like to advise you on the problems associated with wetwall panels.

The pictures above illustrate the damage that can be done from wrongly ftted wetwall panels.The shower tray was easily removed leaving behind the panels because the silicone had not stuck to the wetwall panels allowing water to run down the back of the shower tray, and rotting the floor.

Wetwall panels must be fitted as per manufacturers instructions. This means that you must leave the bottom of the wetwall panel as much as 10mm from the shower tray by the use of packers. Once the glue you have used to adhere the wetwall panel to your wall has cured , you can remove the packers, and inject a large bead of silicone around the bottom of the panels forcing as much silicone under and behind as you can leaving the job with a larger than normal silicone bead.

The reason for having this large (and not very esthetically pleasing) silicone bead is threefold.

One if a thin bead of silicone is used it can shrink  over the years and become useless.

Secondly , and this might sound strange, but silicone doesnt adhere properly to the wetwall panel front. The combination of the two factors will cause the silicone seal to become ineffective allowing water to pour down the back of the shower tray.

Thirdly  with wetwall  the corner profiles which are made of nicely manufactured, and square aluminium. I have also yet to find a house that has square corners (even brand new ones). So when you try to fit machined wetwall panels with corner profiles into a corner wall situation (with wavey uneven walls) and then try to silicone them to a water tight seal, it becomes a disaster waiting to happen. Far better to throw away the profiles and again inject a larger than normal bead of silicone into the corner set up.

Unfortunately most of the wetwall fitted in Scotland has not been fitted with bathroom fitters but with joiners   , who at the behest of the customer will keep everything very neat and esthetically pleasing  and  unaware of the manufacturers instructions, or care about the leaks that might happen a couple of years down the line.

https://www.wetwall.com/shower-panel-information/fitting-tips/

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